Engineers have it made. In the world of engineering, the formulas are precise and definitive. When products are designed the dimensions are exact, the calculations are accurate, and the resulting characteristics are known.

Manufacturing is an application and is not so precise. Variations can occur anywhere in the process and are often hard to predict accurately. People work with items that were intended to be two inches long, but in reality they are anywhere from an eighth of an inch too big to an eighth of an inch too small. To use and old adage, two plus two seldom equals four.

This has frustrated managers worldwide for a long time. Engineers predict the output of a process and we wonder why things didn’t turn out as planned. The problem is in the definition of what should be. Statisticians have addressed this problem by developing methods for calculating expected results which take variation into account. Their methods call for observing the process in its actual environment so the expected variability can be measured.

So how do we observe the process? Enter Walter Shewart…

In the 1930’s, Walter Shewhart devised a way to predict what could happen during a production process. His technique involved collecting
observations from the shop floor, running calculations on this data and then plotting it on a graph. Based on statistics of what had happened in the process, he could predict what would happen in the future. Comparing the actual result to his prediction was a simple matter of plotting points on graph paper. His graphs became known as the Shewhart Control Charts. They were and are used to control the output of manufacturing processes.

Zontec’s Synergy Suite of SPC software can help you create your own Shewart control charts? Schedule a Demo here.

This content is adapted from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.

If you’ve been following this series (we know you have) you’ll know that we’ve built a strong foundation as we explore some of the foundational concepts of quality and statistical process control or SPC. We now know just what the word quality means and that it is subjective. Then we worked on how the customer’s definition of quality, can be simplified and how that definition may not always intuitively influence the the customer’s buying choice.

This week we’ll learn about variation and controlling variability.

Tolerance?

If it was possible to make all items alike, we would not need tolerances. Since no two things are exactly alike, we must make allowances for the differences. Tolerances are these allowances. They provide a range over which a product can vary and still be accepted by the customer.

Of course, “accepted” is not “desired,” and in the battle over width of tolerances the idea of a specific target has been lost. For example, ask almost any machinist what size a part is supposed to be, and you will get a range for an answer — “from 2.048 to 2.052 inches.” Why isn’t the answer “2.050 inches” if that is the target? Because with tolerances, we tend to aim for the acceptable range instead of the exact target. This means we are less likely to hit the target. It also means our variance will most likely be greater than if we aimed for the target.

Aim for Perfect, Tolerate (Some) Variance

Variance is a natural occurrence, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to control it. If we aim for a specific target value, instead of a range, we have more control of the variance. In archery, if you shoot for a bull’s eye, your arrow is likely to land near it, but if you broaden your aim to encompass the entire target, your arrow could land anywhere.

The same is true for manufacturing. A perfect product is one that is on target, so aiming for the target will improve product quality. Specifying a target value and controlling the variability makes more sense than focusing on tolerances.

How can Zontec SPC help you learn how close you are to your target? Register for a software trial here.

This content is adapted from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.

]]>http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/can-make-two-things-exactly-alike/feed/0Zontec Announces Hiring of Sales and Marketing Leadershttp://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/zontec-announces-hiring-sales-marketing-leaders/
http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/zontec-announces-hiring-sales-marketing-leaders/#commentsTue, 14 Jul 2015 13:00:36 +0000http://www.zontec-spc.com/?p=8165Zontec, Inc., the international developer of Statistical Process Control (SPC) software solutions, announced the recent addition of David Kennard as Sales Manager and Travis Nipper as Marketing Manager.

David Kennard

David Kennard, MBA brings over ten years of valuable and diverse sales experience in industries ranging from transportation to construction projects. Mr. Kennard has over six years of experience in manufacturing in high-profile roles including ownership and direction of various enterprise quality initiatives. In addition to both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration from Xavier University, he is also a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. As the director of sales, Mr. Kennard will be responsible for crafting and aligning sales strategies with the corporate vision and growing sales through management of the sales team.

Travis Nipper, MBA brings over 15 years of marketing expertise gained from both corporate and consulting roles for diverse industry leaders as well as small and mid-sized businesses in both BtoB and BtoC settings. He is a graduate of Thomas More College where he is an adjunct professor teaching both Marketing and Communications. In addition to a Certificate of Project Management from Xavier University, he also holds a Master of Business Administration with dual concentrations in Marketing and Management from the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Nipper also serves on the board of the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Marketing Association as Vice-President of Marketing Communication. Mr. Nipper will help guide strategic direction and oversee all marketing functions.

“We are thrilled to have two talented, knowledgeable, and experienced professionals added to our team,” said Zontec President Warren Ha. “In addition to having impressive credentials and certifications, David and Travis bring a fundamental awareness of our industry as well as fresh perspectives that will serve Zontec well as we promote and provide our new cloud SPC application to the industry.”

Mr. Nipper and Mr. Kennard have already assumed their roles this summer.

If you have questions on how Zontec’s Synergy SPC can help you meet your customer’s quality expectation David and Travis are here to help. Start by registering for a software test drive here.

]]>http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/zontec-announces-hiring-sales-marketing-leaders/feed/0How Quality Affects Your Customer’s Buying Choicehttp://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/quality-affects-customers-buying-choice/
http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/quality-affects-customers-buying-choice/#commentsTue, 07 Jul 2015 14:00:59 +0000http://www.zontec-spc.com/?p=8136In the previous posts in this series, we gained an understanding of what the word quality means and that it has a different meaning to different parties. We then acknowledged that the way the customer defines quality, while highly subjective and of utmost concern, can be simplified. Today, we walk a step further, considering how a producer’s view on quality, while technically closer to optimal, may not be the best for business. This variance in process and results is how quality affects your customer’s buying choice. Let explore this further.

The illustration below shows the output of two companies making the same part. Company A has much tighter control over the dimension but their process is centered near the low limit. Company B, however, doesn’t have enough control to keep their products within spec all the time and produces a 3% out-of-spec product.

From a producer’s point of view, Company A would appear to be the better company. The tighter control of the dimensions reduces the cost of materials.

Company A has much tighter control over the dimension but their process is centered near the low limit. Company B, however, doesn’t have enough control to keep their products within spec all the time and produces a 3% out-of-spec product. Again, from a producer’s point of view, Company A would appear to be the better company. The tighter control of the dimensions reduces the cost of materials.

But this is only one way to look at it. What about the customer’s point-of-view?

What About the Customer’s Point-of-View?

A customer who is only buying one or two items would prefer Company B’s product. Why? Company B produces an average of 68% of their product in the middle third of the tolerance. And chances are greater that many of Company B’s parts will be exactly on target — a perfect product.

Company A’s products run towards the low end of the limits, which means there is a only slight chance of getting a perfect product and a good chance of getting an inferior one.

If Company A can center their process on the design target, they will have the better product. Centering a process is usually easier than reducing process variations. This is why controlling variables is the biggest problem in quality production.

In our next post we will dig deeper on variation and controlling variability.

How can Zontec SPC help you meet your customer’s quality expectation? Register for a software trial here.

This content is from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.

]]>http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/07/quality-affects-customers-buying-choice/feed/0How Does Your Customer (Not You) Define Quality?http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/customer-not-define-quality/
http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/customer-not-define-quality/#commentsTue, 30 Jun 2015 14:00:51 +0000http://www.zontec-spc.com/?p=8129In our previous segment of this series on quality, we defined quality. Not an easy task since quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. We did identify five points we can all agree on that equate to quality. More important than this is the answer to the question, how does your customer (not you) define quality? Quality can be broken down into three areas of concern to the customer.

Credit: flickr: Particularly Everything

Design Quality

Design Quality is the intended shape, size, color and function of the product. The designer must assess the needs of the customer and select characteristic values that will create the greatest customer satisfaction. Product quality can never be better than the quality of the design.

Manufacturing Quality

Manufacturing Quality is how well the product meets the design. It is this type of quality that is the subject of this book. The better the manufacturing quality is, the better the product quality will be. And if this type of quality is good, product quality will be more consistent. Keep in mind, however, that while improving manufacturing will improve a product to a certain extent, it will never improve a poor design.

Performance Quality

Performance Quality is a measure of how dependable a product is. The level of this type of quality is affected by how often a product fails, the time between failures, the time it takes to repair, and repair costs.

Most customers don’t tell the manufacturer what they want directly. They tell them by buying or not buying. To stay competitive, a company must consider how their customers look at quality. From the customer’s point of view, quality includes the marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance through which the product or service meets their expectations.

But there’s more to it.

In our next segment we will see how two different companies can exercise quality in different, yet equally conscious ways, but get completely different results in terms of customer buying choices and satisfaction.

How can Zontec SPC help you meet your customer’s quality expectation? Register for a software trial here.

This content is from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.

In the 30+ years since our founding, we’ve detailed the concepts of quality and SPC to a great degree. However, it ‘s important from time to time to remind ourselves just what is quality and why is it important.

Before we can control quality, we need to understand what the word “quality” means. Quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Each of us judges the quality of many items every day, and we each have a different idea about what quality is for each item. We know what we like or what we want, and what we don’t like or want. How we determine the quality of an item depends on both our personal preference and our frame of reference for that particular item.

For example, production workers might see quality as conformance to specifications. If the size of the hole they produce is within their tolerance, it is a good hole. If not, it’s bad. Marketing people might think of quality as something that sells well and causes little trouble for the customer. Supervisors see quality when production is higher than normal and there are few reworks. Customers see quality if the product does what they expect it to do without any breakdowns.

So what are some points upon which we can all agree equate to quality?

Quality is conformance to specification.

This idea comes from labeling parts that are in-spec as good and out-of-spec as bad. Are they really good and bad? No. Somebody has either assigned or negotiated the tolerances and a simple stroke of a pen changing these tolerances can transform bad products into good.

Quality is a measure of how good a product is — quality is meeting customer acceptable quality levels.

Does the quality of the product change when you renegotiate the contract with the customer? No, acceptable quality levels are simply tolerances on tolerances. They specify the number of times it is permissible to miss the target by a given amount.

Quality is zero defects.

This notion is based on our ability to define a defect. If we define a defect as a part out of spec, then we are right back at “conforming to the specifications.”

Quality is the absence of variation.

This is a goal that initially sets many companies’ SPC implementations in motion.

Quality is in the eyes of the beholder.

With manufactured products, quality is determined by the customer. If the customer thinks the quality is good, then it’s good. In making the judgment the customer weighs competitive products, cost, performance, and personal preference.

Because we define a product’s quality in relation to competing products, it is a constantly moving target. Finding this target means adjusting to meet the customer’s needs as well as maintaining the competitive edge. This requires never-ending improvement.

We will dig more into this aspect of “What is Quality?” and what areas are of concern to the most important stakeholder – your customer – in the second part of this series.

How can Zontec SPC help you use SPC to improve quality? Register for a software trial here.

This content is from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.

Recently, IBM shared a fantastic infographic on their flickr page outlining why the cloud is becoming more of business decision as opposed to an IT decision. The reasons they cited may seem obvious but once we consider the broad effect of adoption, they become quite compelling.

It comes as no surprise that companies are adding cloud computing to their technology resources at an ever increasing rate. Late last year Cisco released its The Cisco Global Cloud Index (GCI). They identify it as a report that forecasts data center and cloud traffic as well as key trends for 2013-2018.

Zontec’s is pushing SPC into the cloud. Find out what questions you should ask about a Cloud SPC solution here.

One highlight of the report shows that a large portion of cloud traffic will be driven by the increasing presence of network connected devices that allow collaboration of people, data, and processes. This holds true as more manufacturing facilities embrace connectivity and accessibility at the place where it is needed.

Takeaways from IBM’s 5 Reasons Businesses Use the Cloud

Better Insight and Visibility – Businesses use the cloud to gather insights, share data, and store data for future reference.

Collaboration is Easier – Work is accessible from anywhere on any device. Integration between development, operations, and production gives the company a competitive advantage.

The move to cloud computing and virtualization is a forgone conclusion. Ken Hess writes for Virtually Speaking at ZDNet, he believes that “the day of the conventional ‘one physical server, one workload’ is coming to an end.”

]]>http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/5-reasons-businesses-use-the-cloud/feed/0Cloud Computing in Manufacturing is Now a Necessityhttp://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/cloud-computing-in-manufacturing-is-now-a-necessity/
http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/cloud-computing-in-manufacturing-is-now-a-necessity/#commentsTue, 09 Jun 2015 14:00:10 +0000http://www.zontec-spc.com/?p=8087Most of us are probably familiar with the early days of cloud computing. Nudged by endless advertising on AM radio or website ads, the first services that many of us adopted both personally and professionally were the services that promised the backup and protection of our data such as Google Drive, Carbonite, Dropbox, and Mozy among others.

Credit: flickr: Particularly Everything

Fast forward to today and consider cloud computing in manufacturing. We see that the majority of the workloads are now on the cloud versus the traditional in-house IT space. A staggering 82% of companies surveyed in a recent study saved money moving to the cloud.

Our peers are certainly adopting cloud computing or SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions for their business so it is fitting to ask ourselves, “how can my business/department benefit from a cloud-based solution?”

When it comes to manufacturing, the need to streamline and simplify processes has become universal. As pressures to innovate and commercialize new products grows – especially on small and midsized manufacturers, cloud computing and SaaS adoption has become a go-to solution.

Louis Columbus, contributor for Forbes Magazine points out some key reasons why manufacturers are adopting and how it is revolutionizing. He notes that, “Manufacturers are under constant pressure to increase accuracy, make process speed a competitive force, and capitalize on their internal intelligence and knowledge to make every supplier, distributor and service interaction count.”

He notes that, “Cloud-based strategies give these companies the chance to bring their own innate intelligence and knowledge into every sales situation. While on-premise systems could also do this, cloud-based systems were quicker to roll out, easier to customize, and showed potential to increase adoption rates across resellers.”

Being able to outsource and use the resources of a provider to collaborate, secure, analyze, and scale key functions is still a competitive advantage, but for how long?

A study by Gartner showed that 59% of all new spending on cloud computing services originates from North American enterprises, a trend projected to accelerate through 2016.

Zontec’s Synergy Cloud SPC is a game-changer. What questions should you ask if your considering moving quality to the cloud? Find out here.

Perhaps the premise is obvious but the fact is, manufacturers can no longer linger on the decision to adopt some sort of cloud-based applications. By using cloud-based applications, manufacturers reclaim their resources so they can focus on quality, efficiency, and innovation. More importantly, sales, customer satisfaction, and retention is maximized.

]]>http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/cloud-computing-in-manufacturing-is-now-a-necessity/feed/0Kick-starting Your SPC – The Next Stepshttp://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/kick-starting-your-spc-the-next-steps/
http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/kick-starting-your-spc-the-next-steps/#commentsTue, 02 Jun 2015 18:30:04 +0000http://www.zontec-spc.com/?p=8031Today we wrap up our series on kick-starting your SPC. Throughout the past several weeks we’ve reviewed concepts on how to help make your program a success by ensuring your team is educated, that they understand transition is an investment, and that everyone is aware of the role that production workers must embraceas well asmanagement’s role.

Credit: flickr: Particularly Everything

6.) The next steps.

Don’t place unrealistic demands on yourself or your team.

Continue the cycle of gathering data, plotting it, studying it, and reacting to it. When you are comfortable with the system of process control, expand to include related characteristics. When you are comfortable with those, add others or bring a new target area into focus. Keep adding new areas until everything is under control.

Your start was slow; expect a gradual shift!

Once everything is up and running, keep working to improve the product. It’s easy to get discouraged, especially if your process adjustments do the opposite of what you expect them to. Sometimes you’ll have setbacks. Making the gradual shift to SPC allows you and your coworkers to become more familar with SPC techniques and how they apply to your company. It allows you to pinpoint areas that need more attention. But most importantly, it keeps you from getting overwhelmed.

The key to experiencing positive results is to be patient and stay focused. If you do, great rewards and payback lie ahead!

How can Zontec SPC help you with a methodical approach to SPC? Register for a software trial here.

This content is from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.

]]>http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/06/kick-starting-your-spc-the-next-steps/feed/0Kick-starting Your SPC Program – Start Slowlyhttp://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/05/kick-starting-your-spc-program-start-slowly/
http://www.zontec-spc.com/2015/05/kick-starting-your-spc-program-start-slowly/#commentsTue, 26 May 2015 18:31:16 +0000http://www.zontec-spc.com/?p=7968Throughout the past several weeks we’ve reviewed concepts on how to help make your program a success by ensuring your team is educated, that they understand transition is an investment, and that everyone is aware of the role that production workers must embraceas well asmanagement’s role.

Credit: flickr: Particularly Everything

These are all intended to help build a solid foundation for success. However, in today’s “microwave society”, it’s easy to expect (or demand of ourselves) quick results even in incredibly complex ventures. Today, we remind ourselves to be methodical and patient.

5.) Start Slowly.

Don’t place unrealistic demands on yourself or your team.

Perhaps the words of the Greek historian, biographer and essayist conveyed it best for us to take our time. Most companies with successful SPC programs didn’t try to convert all their processes at once, they selected one target area. What problem is the most costly? What problem seems to have a high probability of success? Pareto analysis can help you decide what to tackle first.

“Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.”

-Plutarch

Start measuring where it will have the most impact.

Once you’ve targeted a problem, determine what key characteristics should be measured. Again you should start small. Identify a couple of characteristics, and save the rest until you expand your program. Then determine how data will be collected and recorded. How will you take measurements? What sample size will you use?

Gather data, create your control chart, and calculate control limits. Base your limits on at least 20 samples. Study the chart. Is data out of control or are there definite trends? Work on removing special causes of variation. Find and correct assignable causes. Gather more data, plot and analyze it. Did the changes improve your process or make it worse? React to your findings. Study the capability of the process. Is it capable of producing the output you require?

How can Zontec SPC help you with a methodical approach to SPC? Register for a software trial here.

This content is from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.